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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27818968">The Light at the End of the Celestial Tunnel</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biak911/pseuds/Biak911'>Biak911</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Overwatch (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aliens, Alternate Universe, Astronauts, F/F, NASA, One Shot, Outer Space, space</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:08:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,668</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27818968</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Biak911/pseuds/Biak911</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After being alone in outer space for 6 months, Captain Fareeha Amari was suddenly joined by the cosmic entity she was supposed to be observing.</p><p>Story is inspired by art created by Nekitoototo on Twitter!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Fareeha "Pharah" Amari/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Pharmercy - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Light at the End of the Celestial Tunnel</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello, Readers of the PharMercy community,</p><p>This story is inspired by Nekitoototo's art of Pharah and Mercy where Pharah is wearing her Orbital skin while Mercy is wearing her Atlantic one. I may not be the biggest shipper of PharMercy, but when I saw her art, this story just formed in my head. If you liked this story, please do give her a follow on Twitter and Instagram.</p><p>Additionally, if you haven't read my other fics, I always have a piece of music accompanying my fics to help enhance your experience. And for this one-shot, it's Arvo Pärt's, Spiegel im Spiegel. I invite you to have this on loop while reading this story.</p><p>Thank you for reading this note, and please enjoy.</p><p>With lots of love,</p><p>Biak 911</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>[Arvo Pärt- Spiegel im Spiegel for Violin and Piano]</em>
</p><p> </p><p>As Earth completes another revolution around the sun, people are given a new set of 24 hours to spend however they want. Depending on where they are, they could be waking with the morning light by their side or surrendering to the call of sleep as the moon lulls them to bed. The planet’s position in the solar system allowed it to give its inhabitants just the right amount of time for them to experience living and letting their bodies rest. But not everyone is able to enjoy the warmth of the sun, the ever-changing weather, the beauty created by Mother Nature and man, as well as the presence of other humans.</p><p> </p><p>Somewhere beyond the MACS0647-JD galaxy, a battered orbiter is seen floating in the vastness of space. Its exterior is covered in scratches, dents, and scorched markings caused by an asteroid storm that occurred not too long ago. The orbiter’s name, Horizon, which was once glimmering in glossy black, has now lost all its luster due to the incident. And although this galaxy had the brightest stars, they were millions of light-years away from the orbiter. The only sources of light that shone upon this depressing scene was the spacecraft’s red flashing signal light and a blanket of cosmic radiation that was slowly crawling towards the ship.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Log entry number… Log entry number…” A 32-year-old woman said in a sigh. Her eyes shifting left and right as she tried to reach for the number that was forming in her mind. “Ah, log entry number 227. That’s right! Good day to you, general.” She drew a smile across her face. “The cosmic radiation is now 18.90 feet away from the ship… It’s now .30 feet closer than the last time I recorded… Which was… three weeks ago.” The woman scratched the black hairs on the top of her head, messing up her ponytail, and gave out a long yawn. “Oh, sorry about that.” She said, trying to hold back the next big one.</p><p> </p><p>The woman was doing her best to put on a brave face in front of the camera. However, her body revealed the underlying health problems she was going through both physically and mentally.  Her brown skin was taking on a paler shade and her hair was weak and thin. The brown color of her eyes became more pronounced as the dark circles under them sunk. The <em>udjat </em>tattoo under her right eye started to fade, turning into a dark sickly green color. And the bright orange astronaut uniform she was wearing was three times larger than her size and covered by different colored stains all over the fabric.</p><p> </p><p>“According to the ship’s timekeeper, it’s been 6 months and 5 days since our launch… Three months since Doctors Korpal and Maximilien started having their visions… Three months since I’ve been alone in this ship.”</p><p> </p><p>The woman took a quick glance at the room behind her to help recollect what has happened during her time alone. She intentionally turned off the ship’s artificial gravity system to save what little fuel she thought was left, so items like pens, mugs, space food wrappers, and blankets were floating all around inside the ship. There were half a dozen screens on each side of the walls; all of them were flashing red. Each screen used to show the condition of one of Horizon’s vital components. But now, all they were showing was the word: OFFLINE in big bold white letters.</p><p> </p><p>As the woman observed how messy she had become over the course of six months, she let her eyes linger at a door at the end of the room and felt sick to her stomach. The airtight door led to the other areas of the ship, but its lock was jammed shut, locking her in the cockpit.</p><p> </p><p>“My apologies, general,” she said as she turned back to look at the camera, “I know I’ve sent countless messages in the past; all of them saying the same things. But… In case they fail to reach you, allow me to recap what has happened so far.” The woman sat comfortably on the captain’s seat, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began. “Dr. de Kuiper and Dr. O’Deorain’s theory about finding signs of life beyond the MACS0647-JD galaxy was correct. Three weeks after our launch, Horizon’s scanner picked up some kind of pulse in the outer lying areas of this quadrant. Naturally, I set a course to that location. But as we were nearing our destination, a large asteroid storm greeted us…”</p><p> </p><p>Up until this point, the woman sounded like she had rehearsed the same exact words a thousand times before. Her voice carried such conviction that her confidence eclipsed the pallor of her face. However, when it came to the portion on describing the asteroid storm, her mouth trembled for a moment before speaking in a softer tone.</p><p> </p><p>“I… I couldn’t…” Her voice was shaking and her eyes began to water. “The storm was too much for the Horizon to handle. I did what I could to navigate out of it but… Because of my inability to pilot this ship, I have placed the entire crew in danger, and now I…”</p><p> </p><p>The woman looked right at the camera’s lens with tears floating out from her eyes. This was the part of her report that was the hardest to tell.</p><p> </p><p>“All those years in the military training to fly this kind of spacecraft wasted.” She banged her fist angrily on the chair’s arm and looked at her lap to try and hide her frustration and disappointment from the camera. When she realized who the recipient the video was for, she quickly wiped her tears and took a deep breath to help regain her composure.</p><p> </p><p>“My apologies again, general.” She said, this time with a more reassuring tone. “Now, where was I… Oh yes.” She cleared her throat. “A few hours after the event, we all decided to fix up the ship’s lightspeed system and head back home. However, it seems Horizon’s presence caught the attention of the life the doctors mentioned in their theory.”</p><p> </p><p>She rotated the camera’s focus to the blanket of cosmic radiation in front of the ship.</p><p> </p><p>“Dr. Korpal first thought that it was just a cloud of space dust and light. But we noticed that it responds to our conversations and emotions… Watch!” She suddenly waved at the light through the spacecraft’s window and greeted it with a cheery, “Hello!”</p><p> </p><p>The light answered her by creating fluttering lights of pink and lilac within itself. As if it was telling her that it was happy to see her too.</p><p> </p><p>“See? Fascinating, right?” The woman then rotated the camera’s focus back to her. She was smiling this time. “The doctors and I agreed to stay a little while to study it. But the longer we remained, the more insane the doctors became. Three months after constantly speaking with this… <em>Space entity</em>, both Dr. Korpal and Dr. Maximilien started acting like they weren’t themselves. They suddenly became quick-tempered, jittery, and incoherent with their speech. They got into a huge argument and well… Things didn’t turn out well for either of them.”</p><p> </p><p>She glanced at the door behind her once more before continuing. “I’m not a doctor, but I believe that the more you interact with the thing that’s outside the ship, it scrambles your mind, making you see and believe other things. To reduce the risk of me contracting whatever afflicted the doctors, I locked their corpses out of the cockpit… I also speak to the space entity less.”</p><p> </p><p>She then raised her gaze to the cosmic light before her and looked at it with a soft expression on her face. “Please, do not judge my decision for continuing to reach out to this entity… It gets lonely here, and I think I’ll lose my mind from cabin fever before that thing gets me.” A light chuckle escaped her lips.</p><p>The woman stared into the camera for a few more seconds and let the silence of the ship speak for her.</p><p>“Right now, I’m doing my best to fix the lightspeed system of the ship. The doctors’ scuffle placed it in a pretty bad shape. I still have more than enough food to last me another six months, but that won’t let me be complacent with my duties… General, I’ll be sending this message… And call for distress in a few seconds. If I haven’t heard from NASA or any government agency in a few weeks, I’ll send another one. I hope this message finds you well…”</p><p> </p><p>Her mouth trembled once more and stared into the camera with sullen eyes. “I’m sorry, mom… And I love you… Captain Fareeha Amari, over and out.”</p><p> </p><p>Once Captain Fareeha stopped the recording, she quickly sent the message out into the direction she knows that pointed towards home. <em>Thank goodness this thing still works</em>, she thought as she brushed her hand over Horizon’s transmitter system. She then looked at the clock, which was also one of the few things that were still functional in the ship, and exhaled a heavy, warm breath.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s 9:00 am back at home… Okay, back to work!”</p><p> </p><p>During the months she was stranded in space, Captain Fareeha’s kept a relatively tight schedule. After sending her report back to headquarters, she’d roll up her sleeves and did her best to fix the ship’s lightspeed system. Horizon was the first and only spacecraft that boasted this feature at the time of its release, and the designers in NASA were incredibly proud of their work. Captain Fareeha was also excited to be selected to pilot such an amazing ship. She had been training most of her time in the military for this specific purpose. However, the universe can be unforgiving and present impossible challenges even to those who are most prepared.</p><p> </p><p>Once she had thought that she had done enough to fix the system, or felt that something is amiss in the ship, Captain Fareeha would immediately stop working and take a break. On this particular moment, she could sense the air in the ship thinning and her surroundings getting cold.</p><p> </p><p>“Grrr, the oxygen is acting up again.” She quickly floated towards the console that controlled the ship’s oxygen levels and configured its settings. And although the piece of equipment is covered in cracks and shattered glass, she was able to make things work. “There,” she said triumphantly, wiping the sweat on her forehead with her arm, “I guess this calls for a well-deserved break.”</p><p> </p><p>She pushed herself against the oxygen console and allowed the zero gravity to take her back to the captain’s chair. During her short travel to the chair, she quickly grabbed the nearest tinfoil package that was floating about in the room and read its contents, “Ah, another turkey sandwich. This’ll do fine.”</p><p> </p><p>Holding onto the head of the chair, Captain Fareeha sat herself down, put on the seatbelt, and placed her feet above the main control’s dashboard. “Cheers!” She raised her unopened meal towards the space entity before tearing the package with her teeth.</p><p> </p><p>The cosmic radiation flashed spots of yellow light as its response.</p><p> </p><p>While she ate, Captain Fareeha would have short conversations with the cosmic entity. And although her recipient only responded with flashes of light, she was happy that she had someone to share the loneliness with her.</p><p> </p><p>“So, how are you doing?”</p><p> </p><p>The entity blushed in a pinkish hue.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, feeling good? That’s great to hear! Any other plans besides watching me work?”</p><p> </p><p>The entity didn’t respond right away. But after a few seconds, it flashed the captain a warm peachy light.</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, what else could you be doing?” Captain Fareeha laughed. “I mean, I do spend some of my time observing you as well.” She then took a big bite out of her sandwich and was amazed that the packaging was able to preserve the food’s freshness. “Wow, this is delicious!” She said with a mouthful of bread and turkey before taking another bite. “NASA really outdid themselves in their food department.” She raised her eyes on the entity, which was now turning into a light shade of green. “You know I’d give you some if I could, right?” She chortled.</p><p> </p><p>The first time Captain Fareeha witnessed the two doctors speak to the cosmic radiation; she was surprised to know that they could get crazier than they already were. But because of her current situation, talking to a space entity felt normal—comforting even. During her earlier conversations with it, she couldn’t believe that she was trying to have a coherent discussion about the woes of zero gravity with a cloud. But now, she acts as if she was talking to a real person; maybe even a close friend.</p><p> </p><p>“Ahhh, that was good!” Captain Fareeha licked her fingers to savor the flavors of the breadcrumbs that clung to her skin. “You can’t waste any food in a time like this, am I right?” She chuckled.</p><p> </p><p>The space entity lit up with a show of yellow light, expressing that it found the captain’s remark quite funny.</p><p> </p><p>“Haha, I thought so…” Captain Fareeha drew her eyes on the clock and said with a small smile, “It’s just 10:30 am, but I’m a bit tired… Maybe a short nap wouldn’t hurt.” She then reclined the captain’s chair and once she reached a comfortable position, she placed her hands behind her head and yawned. “See you in a few minutes, okay?” She said to the cosmic radiation before dozing off.</p><p> </p><p>Sleep was her only means of escaping the reality she was in. While she was dreaming, Captain Fareeha had the freedom to envision herself home and spending a nice afternoon with her mother. She’d dream about the celebration that would greet her when she returned to Earth, and the inspiring speech she’d give to the large crowd who came to see her landing. However, she knew that all of this was a product of her imagination, created by what little hope she was clinging to. That’s why whenever she opened her eyes, she’d be disappointed to be waking up in an empty Horizon.</p><p> </p><p>This time, however, her disappointment was joined with despair because when she looked out of the ship’s window, the cosmic radiation was no longer there.</p><p> </p><p><em>...Shit… SHIT SHIT SHIT! </em>Her heart felt like it was pounding a thousand times a minute when she realized that the space entity disappeared. “WHERE IS IT!? WHAT HAPPENED TO IT!?” She roared as she unbuckled herself from her seat to position herself nearer to the window. Captain Fareeha searched as far as her eyes could see. But all she saw were several clusters of stars that dotted the dark canvas of space.</p><p> </p><p>“… Where did it go?” She uttered with a hint of melancholy in her voice.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, she felt a warm sensation coming from behind her. It was unlike the warmth Horizon generated because it felt as if a ray of sunshine was hitting her back. Trembling in fear, she slowly turned around to see who was with her in the ship. The moment she faced the unknown entity, she was in shock to find a humanoid creature with feminine features and was covered in an ethereal pink light staring at her.</p><p> </p><p>This creature stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and had periwinkle-colored locks that draped down to her shoulders. It was wearing a midnight blue armor with wings that carried the soft illumination of the moon. It wore a spiked crown around its head with a big, blue jewel on its diadem. And its eyes, which were lit with intense blue flames, were wide open as the entity was also surprised to be seeing the captain for the very first time.</p><p> </p><p>“…Who…Who are you?” The captain asked with her voice shaking. “…What are you doing here?”</p><p> </p><p>The entity didn’t speak. It tilted its head to the side as it tried to understand the captain’s words.</p><p> </p><p>“Didn’t you hear me!?” The captain shouted, forming her hands into a fist as she tried to harden her stance. “I said who are you!?”</p><p> </p><p>The creature’s pink light suddenly turned to a deep shade of purple as its expression changed from curiosity to fear. It took a few steps back.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha noticed this and quickly regretted screaming at the creature. Although she had no idea what or who was with her on the ship, startling it wasn’t the best course of action. She didn’t know what the creature was capable of, so she needed to stay calm and do her best to not provoke it.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha relaxed her hands and toned down. “… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you… You just surprised me... I’ve just been alone for too long.” She said. “And judging by how you look, you seem to be surprised of me too.”</p><p> </p><p>When the creature heard the captain speak to it in a friendlier manner, it released a sigh of relief with the purple light around her gradually returning to its soft pink hue.</p><p> </p><p><em>It changed color again, </em>Captain Fareeha said to herself, <em>… Could it be? </em>She glanced at the emptiness of space and then returned her sights on the creature. She then raised a hand and waived. “He... Hello…” She whispered.</p><p> </p><p>The creature suddenly beamed a light that carried the colors of pink and lilac, expressing its joy. “He… Hello!” It said back, mimicking the captain’s wave.</p><p> </p><p>“It speaks!” Captain Fareeha said in amazement. “That’s quite impressive!” In her excitement, she walked towards the creature without caution and began throwing questions at it.</p><p> </p><p>“What are you? Where did you come from? How did you get here? Why are you here?”</p><p> </p><p>As her questions continued to multiply, the creature had trouble keeping up. Its pink light turned into a sickly green color and it looked as if it was having a migraine.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, my apologies.” Captain Fareeha immediately stopped pestering the creature with her questions. “I’m just so excited to finally see someone in the flesh! I mean… uh… in the… Whatever you’re made of.” She laughed.</p><p> </p><p>The creature looked confused.</p><p> </p><p>“Hmmm,” Captain Fareeha placed her hand under her chin and thought for a moment, “what are you? What should I even call you?” Suddenly an idea popped right into her head. “Oh, I know! Maybe if I introduced myself first.” She cleared her throat, took in a deep breath, and in her most confident voice she said, “Captain Fareeha Amari, at your service!” She extended a hand to the creature. “And you are?”</p><p> </p><p>The creature stared at the captain’s hand and held it between its own. Its touch was incredibly warm and chased away a bit of the chill that was enveloping the captain’s body.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhh,” Captain Fareeha’s voice quivered as she couldn’t describe the sensation she was feeling. “D-Do you have a name?”</p><p> </p><p>The creature raised its head. “A… A name?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes!” Captain Fareeha beamed. “Like, what do you call yourself? Do you have common names like Diana, Mark, or Sam? Maybe one that’s from your native language?”</p><p> </p><p>The creature continued to stare at the captain in complete confusion.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha released a defeated sigh. “Mercy me!” She said as she wiped the tiredness off of her face.</p><p> </p><p>“M… Mercy, me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Mercy!” Captain Fareeha was shocked when the creature grasped the word. “Mercy? Would you like to be called, Mercy?”</p><p> </p><p>The creature’s pink light glowed brighter and a smile formed across its face.</p><p> </p><p>“Mercy… That is quite an interesting name.” Captain Fareeha said. “Now tell me, Mercy. What are you doing here?”</p><p> </p><p>Mercy looked around the ship with their curious blue eyes, examining every crevice, curve, and detail of Horizon’s interior. All the while, Captain Fareeha couldn’t keep her attention away from Mercy. Mercy may appear to be human, but their alien features and the inviting light they projected didn’t completely make them one. And yet, the captain found Mercy’s presence quite normal. Maybe it was because of all those times she tried to speak to Mercy through Horizon’s window.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, Mercy pointed at a tinfoil package that was floating near the oxygen console.</p><p> </p><p>“Ah, let me get that for you.” Captain Fareeha floated towards the package, grabbed it, and returned to Mercy. She then read the package’s contents and gave out a soft laugh. “It’s a tuna sandwich.” She said smiling at Mercy. “It might not be turkey, but I think it tastes better.” She tore open the package with her teeth and handed the sandwich to Mercy.</p><p> </p><p>Mercy stared at the sandwich then back at the captain.</p><p> </p><p>“Go ahead… Eat!” Captain Fareeha showed Mercy how to eat the meal in her hands.</p><p> </p><p>It took a few moments before Mercy gave it a try. When they realized how delicious the sandwich was, they couldn’t believe it. “Eat!” They said, offering the captain a bite.</p><p> </p><p>“Nah, you enjoy that one… I just ate.”</p><p> </p><p>Although Captain Fareeha couldn’t think of any topics she and Mercy could share, she didn’t hesitate to spark up a conversation with them. Both she and Mercy were intrigued with one another due to their differences, and she did her best to ask them questions she thought they could understand. Captain Fareeha also helped Mercy with their words, until they were able to ask questions of their own.</p><p> </p><p>“Ooof,” Captain Fareeha rubbed her palms together and breathed into her hands. ‘it’s getting quite chilly in here. The oxygen must be at the fritz again.”</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha was about to float towards the oxygen console to tinker with it again when Mercy grabbed onto her wrist.</p><p> </p><p>“Mercy, it’ll just be a few seconds. I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>“No…” Mercy then generated a pink glow, resonating with warmth. “Stay…”</p><p> </p><p>Upon realizing what Mercy had done, Captain Fareeha shook her head and chuckled. “Alright, we’ll continue talking. Thank you, Mercy.”</p><p> </p><p>And so, they did.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha and Mercy continued on with their conversations with Captain Fareeha doing most of the talking. She shared what her life is like on Earth, what her job is, who her family members are, and what she wanted in her future. She also wanted to know what Mercy’s life was like, but since they still couldn’t fully grasp the English language, Captain Fareeha was fine when they didn’t answer.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha felt like they’ve been talking for hours. And although she was having fun, she needed to get back to work.</p><p> </p><p>“Alright, Mercy. I think that’s enough. I need to do some repairs.”</p><p> </p><p>“No!” Mercy demanded, their light turning into a dark red. “Talk more!”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry, Mercy,” Captain Fareeha said with a joking smile. “I have to work. Besides, it’s late and you need to—”</p><p> </p><p>When she looked at the time, Captain Fareeha’s heart instantly sank.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s 10:30 am!?” She quickly floated back to the center controls to see if her vision was messing with her. “That’s impossible… That’s the time I slept!”</p><p> </p><p>“Fareeha?” Mercy uttered.</p><p> </p><p>“Not now, Mercy… Something’s not right.” Captain Fareeha began fiddling with the controls. “That’s funny, these were working just a while ago.”</p><p> </p><p>“…Fareeha…” Mercy moved towards the captain and placed a warm hand on her shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Mercy, please, can’t you see that I’m—” All of Captain Fareeha’s frustrations disappeared when she saw Mercy holding a guilty look on their face. She also noticed that they were surrounded by a blue light. “Mercy… what’s wrong?”</p><p> </p><p>“S… Sorry…”</p><p> </p><p>As the light around Mercy dimmed, Captain Fareeha’s entire world in the Horizon changed. What she thought was still an operable ship slowly turned into a derelict spacecraft littered with nothing but empty food wrappers, soiled clothing, and broken pieces of the ship’s interior. The screens were no longer flashing and the light that was coming from the oxygen console was weak.</p><p> </p><p>“What’s going on?” Captain Fareeha did her best to speak. However, her speech was hindered when she felt her lungs tighten as if they were trying to gasp for air. She can feel the strength in her body being taken away.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>N... No…</em>
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</p><p>A wave of panic rushed through Captain Fareeha’s tired body as she searched for whatever version of her reality was. But as her surroundings slowly peeled to reveal the truth of her situation. She felt the chill of loneliness blanket her once more.</p><p> </p><p><em>This can’t be happening… This can’t… I… </em>Tears started welling up in her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>She then looked to her right and saw Mercy reach out to her and bring her into their arms.</p><p> </p><p>“M… Mercy?” Captain Fareeha uttered.</p><p> </p><p>“Fareeha… Not alone… I promise…” They said, holding the captain’s cold body closer to its chest.</p><p> </p><p>Captain Fareeha looked upon Mercy’s face and saw the guilt in their expression. The tears in their eyes, their trembling body as they continued to tighten their hold around her; she knew that Mercy didn’t want this to happen—even if a part of her sensed that everything was Mercy’s doing.</p><p> </p><p>With what little strength she had left, Captain Fareeha clutched onto Mercy’s arm and whispered, “Yes… Fareeha is not alone… Thank you, Mercy…”</p><p> </p><p>And as Mercy’s blue light weakened, so did Horizon’s red flashing signal light.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Throughout Captain Fareeha’s time in the MACS0647-JD galaxy, the Earth had orbited around the sun numerous times. During that period, most of the people on the planet lived their lives not knowing or caring about what had happened to the Horizon and its crew members. Except for one person.</p><p> </p><p>A woman around her sixties is seen sitting in her office, drumming her fingers away on her wooden desk. Her face looked tired, and even though she wore an eyepatch over her right eye, one can see that she has not had a good sleep for several months by simply looking at the dark circles under her left eye. She kept her silver hair in a clean, single braid to make her appear like she’s put together. However, the feelings of worry, grief, and guilt that were eating her up inside eclipsed her attempt.</p><p> </p><p>Her thoughts were all over the place, making it difficult for her to concentrate on the huge pile of paperwork on her desk. However, she immediately snapped out of her trance when she heard someone knocking on her door.</p><p> </p><p>The woman shook herself out of her daze and sat up. “Who is it?”</p><p> </p><p>“General Amari,” the person from the other side of the door answered, “we need you at mission control, pronto!”</p><p> </p><p>“What is it now?” General Amari groaned. “I told them I don’t want to go near that place if it has nothing to do with—”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry for interrupting, General Amari… But we received a message from the Horizon!”</p><p> </p><p>General Amari’s eye suddenly lit up and she quickly got off her chair. She opened the door; not letting the person speak any further, and ran to mission control. When she arrived, everyone in the room glued their eyes on her as she approached the head of mission control.</p><p> </p><p>“Welcome, General Amari,” the head of mission control greeted her, “we’re glad to see you here. Before we start, I need you to—”</p><p> </p><p>“Play it!” General Amari demanded.</p><p> </p><p>“But… But general, it’s been two years since the Horizon mission launched. The contents of the message could be—”</p><p> </p><p>“Did I stutter!?” General Amari raised her voice, which echoed in the room. “I SAID PLAY IT!”</p><p> </p><p>The head of mission control bit down on her lip, looked at the personnel to her right, and gave that person a nod. And with one push of the button, Captain Fareeha Amari’s video was projected on the largest screen in the room.</p><p> </p><p>“Log entry number… Log entry number… Ah, log entry number 227. That’s right! Good day to you, general.”</p><p> </p><p>As General Amari watched Captain Fareeha’s video, tears started flowing from her eye.</p><p> </p><p>“Fareeha… My dearest, Fareeha…” Her voice trembled.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sorry, mom… And I love you… Captain Fareeha Amari, over and out.”</p><p> </p>
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